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I hope by adding some mbuna to the mix it will draw out my JD. He was always out when he was smaller, now he just hides it a cave. And once in awhile swims across to the other side and back. He is very beautiful but i never see him so....

spankym13 wrote:I hope by adding some mbuna to the mix it will draw out my JD.(

I've been mixing CA with mbuna for over 3 decades. IMO and IME, more then likely it will liven up your tank, make your JD feel more comfortable and bring him out a lot more.

Most of my tanks have this mix (CA with mbuna) to some extant but i will use my 75 gal. with a breeding pair of sals from 2008-2009, as an example because i think it would be more similar to your tank and situation, then most of my other tanks.

Male sal, very breifly, a couple times was placed in a tank by itself and is a very scared and spooked fish all by it's lonesome. Even the small light from the video camera is making him aprehensive in the videos. Like a mature JD, it really needs some outgoing tankmates to feel comfortable.

This tank was set up for about a year and a half. I moved and I shut down this 75 gal. (and also a 100 gal.) temporarily, weeks before I moved. I favoured the younger generation and gave this male sal to the LFS. I successfully introduced a smaller, younger male sal shortly before I moved and bred them to get fry as well. Male sal was over 3 years old and generally always kept with at least 1 mbuna in the tank. On a side note, the brownish color is quite accurate as to how the male sal at this time looked from about 15 feet away in the room, or more.....so the video is accurate in a way, in terms of capturing it's look. But how this fish looks from about 5 feet away or closer, the pictures more accurately capture it's coloration:

The Kenyi also bred in this tank on many occasions. The stock was: 1 male kenyi, 3 female kenyi, 2 female auratus, 1 common pleco and a pair of salvini. After a spawn the pair would break up temporarily. Male sal was generally too lazy to harass the female much during these times and was somewhat pre-occupied with the mbuna. In between spawns, the female sal would have to defend herself in an area from the male kenyi. It is not nessessary to stock such aggressive mbuna. It is my choice.....simply because I can. Breeding sals are very aggressive and very capable. Most schooling dithers would not survive long in this tank. Yellow labs will work just as well with a lot less aggression. The less aggressive mbuna are a much safer choice. Kept yellow labs them with sals in the past. They are sturdy and tough, though not as aggressive as some mbuna.

Bernie...great videos. I hope everyone that reads this post watches them. In fact, I think that you should post them on the Malawi forum too, to debunk the myth that you can't mix. And I love how you have a pair of Sals with two of the more aggressive mbuna species.

Also, I bought 3 Acei and 1Jacobfreibergi Peacock to add to his tank.... Problems is they are all around 1.5" so I put them in a 29gal I have set up as a grow out tank.... So hopefully they will grow quick!!!!!

Quote "Also, I bought 3 Acei and 1Jacobfreibergi Peacock to add to his tank.... Problems is they are all around 1.5" so I put them in a 29gal I have set up as a grow out tank.... So hopefully they will grow quick!!!!! "

--Feed them twice a day and change 40 to 50% of the water twice a week for best results. Don't be too quick to add them to your main tank....JD's were once classified under the Nandopsis section of CA cichlids--that is the section of predatory fish.

In my experience, yes...the water changes are a key ingredient to rapid growth. Also, in my experience, if you include small portions of a frozen or freeze dried mysis shrimp a couple of times a week, the fish will grow larger and faster.